This weekend, Prince William's best man is the one being toasted.
St. James Palace has announced that Prince Harry, after five years of service in the British army, has been promoted to the rank of captain.
The prince, 26, is in training to be an Apache helicopter pilot, according to BBC News. He began his army stint in 2005, and served in Afghanistan in 2007-'08. His deployment was halted after 10 weeks, due to fears that news leaks could threaten the safety of Harry and fellow soldiers. Prince Charles made a private visit to his son while Harry was on duty in Afghanistan.
Harry, third in line to the throne, was known as Officer Cadet Wales early in his military career. The promotion from lieutenant to captain comes not long after his recent four-day trek to the North Pole.
William and Harry, then 15 and 12, lost their mother, Diana, when she was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.
The tour of duty in Afghanistan made Harry the first member of the British royal family in 25 years to serve in a war zone, the BBC reports. And he's expressed a desire to return to the front lines, pointing out that the army's investment in him shouldn't become a frivolous waste.
"You become a very expensive asset...The training's very expensive, and they wouldn't have me doing what I'm doing," he said. "I'd just be taking up a spare place for somebody else, if they didn't have me going out on the job."
